Micah Industries

Micah has become quite the little entrepreneur. It started when Micah realized he had birthday money in his piggy bank from 2 birthdays ago. As soon as he knew he had it, it started burning a hole in his pocket. He HAD to spend it RIGHT AWAY! So we spent a long time talking about the value of a dollar and why it's important to think through our purchases.

Here are some things we did to help him grasp the concept of money:

•I put a bunch of change in the middle of the table and would hold up one coin, say the name and have him find all the matching ones. Then I would tell him how much it was worth. We played that game for a long time.

•Then, I would ask him to find me certain coins without holding up a match for him. Like "find me a quarter, or find me one that is worth 5 cents."

•Next, I gave him a variety of change and opened up the candy jar. I'd hold up a candy and say "This candy costs 8 cents, do you have 8 cents?" And if he could figure out the moneys, then he got to buy it and eat it.

•Then I ran through some scenarios with him using props, like "If we go to an arcade, you'll use up all of these quarters and get to play for just a few minutes and get a little tiny toy like this. Or you could go to the store and use these moneys right here and buy a cooler toy like this one. Or you could save your allowance for 3 more weeks, and you'd have enough moneys to buy a super awesome toy like this one. What do you think is the best choice?"

He caught on really quick and has been making some very wise financial choices lately. My favorite thing is that he always asks me, "What would you do if you were me, Mom?" I feel so blessed that he wants his mom's opinion on the decisions he's making (I'll enjoy it while it lasts!)

Which brings us to...Micah Industries.

He realized that he has lots of grandparents around here and that they'll pay him big moneys to do chores. So he set to work:

•Recruiting sales- "Grandpa...can I please wash your car? (pauses for a moment) "And then you can pay me for it!!!!"

•Hiring employees- "Daddy, how 'bout you help me wash the car and then we'll be done even faster."

•Admiring his hard work- "Whoa...this car looks like a Hot Wheels one now!"

•And collecting his payment- "Grandpa...do I have to do the inside too, or can I get my moneys right now?"

He had a lot of fun operating his "business" and it was a great lesson in work ethic and the value of a dollar.

Now he's waiting for us to drive into town so he can buy some Lego Star Wars sets...they're on sale this week, so he's excited that he can get more for his money. That's my boy- shopping the sales!!!